1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a connector in which a connection resistance, developing when connecting male and female connectors together in a telescopic manner, is reduced.
2. Related Art
A connector 50, shown in FIG. 4, comprises a male connector 53 of a square tubular shape, having a strip-like male terminal 51 received therein, and a female connector 54 of a square tubular shape which has a female terminal 52 received therein, and can be generally telescopically inserted in and connected to the male connector 53 so that the male terminal 51 can be connected to the female terminal 52 capable of holding the male terminal 51 in a direction of a thickness thereof (see JP-A-5-121128; prior art).
The male connector 53 includes a generally L-shaped lid portion 55 connected to an edge of an opening through a thin hinge. The lid portion 55 is closed (as indicated in a dots-and-dash line in FIG. 4) after the female connector 54 is inserted into the male connector 53, so that the female connector 54 is held against withdrawal from the male connector 53.
The female terminal 52 has a generally square tubular shape, and includes a curved strip-like holding piece portion 57 formed integrally with a wall portion 56.
A convexly-arcuate surface of the holding piece portion 57 is disposed in closely-spaced, opposed relation to an inner surface of a wall portion 58. The holding piece portion 57 is urged away from the wall portion 58 by an arm member 59 provided at an outer side of the female connector 54.
The arm member 59 is connected to the female connector 54 through a thin hinge, and a contact portion 61 of this arm member is held in contact with the convexly-arcuate surface of the holding piece portion 57 through a communication hole 60, formed in the female connector 54, and a through hole 58A formed through the wall portion 58.
In this connector 50, when the female connector 54 is inserted into the male connector 53, the arm member 59 is pressed by the inner surface of the male connector 53, and therefore the contact portion 61 presses the holding piece portion 57, so that the holding piece portion 57 is moved away from the wall portion 58.
Therefore, in this connector 50, a connection resistance, developing when the male terminal 51 is connected to the female terminal 52 in such a manner that the male terminal 51 is held between the wall portion 58 and the holding piece portion 57, can be made extremely small.
In the above conventional construction, in the case where the distance or gap between the wall portion 58 and the holding piece portion 57 is too small, the connection resistance, developing during the insertion of the female connector 54 into the male connector 53, can not be adequately reduced, and in the case where the distance between the wall portion 58 and the holding piece portion 57 is too large, there is a possibility that the male terminal 51 is incompletely connected to the female terminal 52.
Therefore, in this conventional construction, the relative positions of the female terminal 52 and the female connector 54, as well as the pressing dimension of the arm member 59, is important, and therefore high shape accuracy, dimensional accuracy and position accuracy are required for the constituent members, which invites a problem that the cost becomes high.
Particularly in this conventional construction, when forming the female terminal 52 by pressing, it is necessary to effect an extremely-strict spring force control so that the holding piece portion 57 can have desired resiliency, and this invites a problem that the cost of the parts further increases.